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Longmont High celebrates Constitution Day with moot court led by CU-Boulder students

By Brittany Anas Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
09/15/2011 09:02:35 PM MDT

Updated:
09/15/2011 09:12:58 PM MDT

Natalie Scarpella, a second-year law student at the University of Colorado, talks about First Amendment law as it applies to schools during a Constitution Day project at Longmont High School on Thursday. Longmont High students Elijah Merritt, left, and Shyanne Messer listen to the presentation.
(
PAUL AIKEN
)

Constitution Day trivia

Q: Who is called the "Father of the Constitution?"

A: James Madison

Q: Which branch of government does Article I address?

A. Legislative

Q. What's the minimum age to be President?

A. 35

Q: What was our country's first constitution called?

A. The Articles of Confederation

Q: What are the first 10 amendments called?

A. Bill of Rights

Q: Who was the oldest person to sign the Constitution?

A. Benjamin Franklin. He was 81 at the time.

LONGMONT -- High schoolers played lawyers Thursday as their government classroom was staged as a moot court and they debated whether a student's controversial Facebook post was protected by the First Amendment.

The lesson -- tailored for a high school audience and taught by University of Colorado law students -- honored Constitution Day, commemorating the Sept. 17, 1787, signing of the U.S. Constitution. This year, Constitution Day is being observed Friday.

By law, any school that accepts federal funding must have some sort of activity to celebrate Constitution Day. Former U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat known to always carry a pocket-sized Constitution, tucked the mandate into a federal spending bill approved by Congress in 2005.

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For the Longmont High School Constitution Day exercise, students reviewed real case law and considered whether the courts protect student speech or the right of the school to limit speech.

Cases included one from 1969, when the U.S. Supreme Court sided with high schoolers who wore black armbands and participated in a hunger strike in opposition to the U.S. military presence in Vietnam. In 2007, the Supreme Court found that schools can restrict non-political speech that reasonably can be seen as promoting illegal drug use after a group of students unfurled a banner that said "Bong hits 4 Jesus" at a school-sponsored event.

The Longmont High juniors drew from case law to argue a fictional case about a student who asked her teacher in an anti-drug class what the possible benefits of marijuana use are, then griped on Facebook after the teacher curtly responded: "There are none."

Playing the defense's role, student Brendon Pacheco argued in front of his peers that the girl never advocated for others to do drugs. Arguing for the school district, student Nancy Ramirez explained that the Facebook post caused disruptions in the classroom the following day.

"They made some creative arguments," said CU law student Natalie Scarpella, who noted that high school students are often focused on what's moral versus what the law says.

CU's Byron White Center for the Study of American Constitutional Law launched its inaugural Constitution Day Project by sending 60 law students to teach in 50 high school classrooms around the state. Students are leading First Amendment lessons in classrooms in Boulder, Longmont, Adams County, Denver, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Kremmling, Glenwood Springs and Carbondale.

Melissa Hart, director of the Byron White Center, said law students have distributed about 700 pocket-sized Constitutions to high school students.

CU's Journalism and Mass Communication program and the Colorado High School Press Association are co-sponsoring a Constitution Day event that is expected to bring more than 100 high school students and their advisers to the campus.

The event, which will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the Eaton Humanities Building, will include a contest in which students from the participating schools will write editorials on topics involving the First Amendment.

University of Colorado third-year law student Laura McNabb discusses the First Amendment as part of a Constitution Day lesson at Longmont High. Longmont High students Mitch Speidel, left, and Michael Tamm listen.
(
PAUL AIKEN
)

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